I wish I found this before I built my machine, because I had the same problems as you did and same goal. I wanted eyefinity + gaming + htpc. I finally did it, but it took so long to dig up informations and buy those parts. My machine:

Intel E5200Biostar G41-M7 MATX mb2gb G.Skills Ram x 1160gb 2.5mm HDDATI 5570 sapphire (same one)Case - same PSU - same but with a shuttle adapter (I'm not sure how much watts I get from that but it seem to be powering it fine. 180w PSU)

I get good performance over the 3-screens in eyefinity setup. But, its just mmo and emulators. The goal is to push it and see what kind of gig I can get under $400.

i actually upgraded to a 5670, unless you were referring to the old 5570 i used for like 10 minutes. everything is very tight, but the card does not touch the memory clips, nor the CPU cooler.

if this setup can power my i7 and 5670, i don't see why it can't power a i3 and 5670. the power difference between mATX and mini-ITX is pretty negligible, there's bigger differences between brands and platforms. mATX should be fine.

i actually have that asrock mATX. it's pretty much a hybrid between mini-ITX and mATX form factor. the width is just a tad larger than mini-ITX, but a lot smaller than most mATX. it takes up 3 expansion slots instead of 4, so you can fit it in some mini-ITX case. here's a quiet build i did for it so refer to this thread below. i just haven't posted it on this forum yet:

I like your logic of using huge heatsinks in small systems. But, how are you able to find the right heatsink for your use? I'm getting an Raidmax ITX case, dimensions 9L 11W 4H. You don't care about USB 3.0 at all for the future? I want to get a MSI H61M-P23 (B3)OrAsRock MB

Please help me get cpu sinks for these and for the ATI 5670.

I could upgrade to usb 3.0 for $74.99Or upgrade to mini itx + usb 3.0 for $84.99I'm still thinking.

It's been a while, but I forgot to update: I switched out the gigabyte H67N-USB3 with a ECS H67H2-I around November because it can hold a mSATA SSD on the motherboard. The mSATA SSD is a 80gb intel 310 SSD. Pics will come later.

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